DFG selects researchers to receive the 2013 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize

This year's recipients of the most important prize for early career researchers in Germany have been announced. The selection committee appointed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) have chosen nine researchers, four women and five men, to receive the 2013 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize. This year the BMBF has increased the prize money from -16,000 to -20,000 per prize. The number of recipients also increased, with only six prizes having been awarded in previous years. The awards ceremony for the 2013 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prizes will be held on 3 June in Berlin.

The higher number of awards and the increased prize money reflect the excellent reputation of the prize, which has been awarded annually since 1977. In a survey carried out by bild der wissenschaft magazine, the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize was voted the third most important research prize in Germany by the leading research institutions - after the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, presented by the DFG, and the Deutscher Zukunftspreis, awarded by the German Federal President. The DFG sees the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize as both recognition and an incentive to early career researchers to continue pursuing a path in research.

This year's recipients are:

• Christine Hentschel, Sociology, Humboldt University of Berlin
• Lena Maier-Hein, Medical Informatics, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg   
• Nuno Maulide, Organic Chemistry, Max-Planck-Institut f-r Kohlenforschung, M-lheim
• Nicole Megow, Discrete Mathematics/Computer Science, Technical University of Berlin
• Thomas Pfeifer, Physics, Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg 
• Holger Johannes Pletsch, Astrophysics, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Hannover
• Volker Presser, Materials Science, Saarland University and Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Saarbr-cken
• Daniel Stein, American Studies, University of G-ttingen
• Clarissa Vierke, African Studies, University of Bayreuth

A total of 123 candidates representing all fields of research were nominated for this year's prize. Of the nominated researchers, 45 were shortlisted and the selection committee then chose the nine prizewinners.

The chair of the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize selection committee, DFG Vice President Prof. Dorothea Wagner, emphasised the wide range of disciplines represented by the winners: "Over the years the prize has demonstrated an elegant balance and has reflected the diversity of the German research system. This year I'm especially pleased to see prizewinners from the so-called 'smaller' disciplines, and to be able to recognise the excellent work being done in these fields."

The patron, Prof. Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, was a physicist and the President of the DFG between 1974 and 1979. The prize that bears his name was set up and first awarded during his time in office.